Western Digital Corporation $WDC is Permit Capital LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Permit Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 13,050 shares during the quarter. Western Digital comprises approximately 3.8% of Permit Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Permit Capital LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $12,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in Western Digital by 165.9% during the 3rd quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 6,949 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $834,000 after acquiring an additional 4,336 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $2,389,000. Patten Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $329,000. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 9,355 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $270.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $91.73 billion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.80. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $309.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $231.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.41.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Western Digital News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: WDC has massively outperformed the market this year and over the past 12 months, which has drawn analyst attention and bullish coverage — reinforcing confidence in continued upside tied to AI/data-center demand. TipRanks: Western Digital Has Massively Outpaced S&P 500
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst write-ups and rankings continue to list WDC as a buy and include it among AI/data-center infrastructure winners, supporting demand expectations and longer-term investor conviction. Zacks: Analysts See WDC as a Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Media pieces revisiting last year’s SanDisk split note it allowed clearer market appraisal of WDC’s AI-focused HDD business — a longer-term positive but not an immediate catalyst. MarketWatch: Why SanDisk’s Split Has Been a Win
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst comparisons of WDC vs. peers (e.g., Teradata) and inclusion on AI-infrastructure lists underline the company’s strategic positioning; useful context but not an immediate price driver. Zacks: WDC vs. TDC
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Western Digital is exiting most of its remaining SanDisk stake via a multibillion-dollar secondary offering / sale raised concerns about increased share supply and focus on balance-sheet cleanup rather than buybacks — a likely near-term headwind for the stock. Yahoo Finance: Western Digital Doubles Down On AI Data Centers And Cleaner Balance Sheet
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting WDC is selling its SanDisk stake prompted further selling pressure and investor questions about dilution/liquidity timing. Barchart: Western Digital Is Selling SanDisk Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales: Cynthia L. Tregillis sold small blocks of WDC shares on Feb. 23–24 (total ~438 shares) disclosed via SEC filings — not a large position relative to holdings but these filings can amplify negative sentiment on a down day. SEC Filing: Insider Sales (Cynthia L. Tregillis)

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WDC. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group set a $306.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $1,833,922.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at $36,932,163.62. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,392 shares of company stock worth $17,235,141. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.